Gabriel McKenna is living the dream. A rising country music star he’s no stranger to fame, money, or beautiful women. Despite his bad boy image, he’s also got a heart of gold, and when his ten-year-old brother is orphaned, he wants to take him under his wing. But the judge on the case is less than impressed by Gabe’s reputation and awards custody to the grandfather Gabe knows firsthand is abusive.

Michaela Finn is no stranger to heartache. Years ago she was engaged to Gabe McKenna, but two days before their wedding he ran off to Nashville with a female talent scout. Now Gabe is back in her life with an insane plan. Marry him, so he can get custody of his younger brother. Michaela can’t bear to think of any child being hurt, but she’s just not sure her heart can carry a happy tune when Gabe is playing lead…

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot. The second chance romance portion is interesting and the characters are very appealing. It’s a sweet story – how they end up back in the same sphere, working together and having to face their feelings.

However, I think they needed to talk about things a little more. There were a couple of moments where they were “I know you did something because of this reason” and I could only think “really? How do you know that?” There was no learning moment, no working thru it, just a statement. I think that if there had been more communication between them it would have worked, instead it seemed like they just forgave the past while not addressing it. And I think they need to have that understanding of each other and what happened in order to have an on-going HEA. Otherwise, what about the next time they hit a bump?

The ending also kinda falls in that same line. Most people are going to see part of it a mile away (and I’m not sure why the heroes would be even a little surprised about it), but there is a part that seemed to me to come out of nowhere. I liked to have a bit of a twist, but I kinda would have liked a little more of a suggestion of it earlier in the story as well. There is a tiny bit of a hint but not enough to actually work for me. It seems a bit TOO much of a surprise.

But even though it may seem like these are big issues, they really aren’t – they didn’t impact my overall enjoyment of the story. I still got totally involved in Micki and Gabe’s story as they found their way back to each other again. While I wanted there to be more discussion between them, I still found myself rooting for them all the way to that happy ending moment.

(Oh, and even though this is part of a series it can easily stand on its own.)

Goodreads

Steals & Deals mailing list

sign up to have great new reads sent right to your email

FTC Disclaimer

I have received ARCs of books free from BookTrib.com to review but the majority of the stories are either bought by me or provided for free from the publisher. The opinions I share are my own and in no way are influenced by an author or publisher. There is no promise of a positive review by any party and there is no additional compensation. Unless otherwise noted, I am not affliated with any contest or other event mentioned on this blog and I do not receive a paid endorsement for any posts.